Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) Upgraded to Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CFR. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $134.00.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:CFR opened at $125.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.74. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a 52 week low of $100.31 and a 52 week high of $147.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.10.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The bank reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $567.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $552.04 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 21.20% and a return on equity of 15.46%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio is 43.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CFR. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,846 shares of the bank’s stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 418.9% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 19,531 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,622,000 after purchasing an additional 15,767 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the 4th quarter worth $204,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the 4th quarter worth $408,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the 4th quarter worth $1,142,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

About Cullen/Frost Bankers

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Frost Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services in Texas. The company offers commercial banking services to corporations, including financing for industrial and commercial properties, interim construction related to industrial and commercial properties, equipment, inventories and accounts receivables, and acquisitions; and treasury management services, as well as originates commercial leasing services.